31 July 2001:
World Ranking update
Going into the week of
the 8th World Championships in athletics Merlene Ottey is ranked 8th (down 1
place) on the 100 metre list and 75th (down 3 places) overall on the IAAF World
Rankings. On the outdoor performance list of 2001 Merlene is the 44th fastest
woman of the year over 100 metre with 11.31 sec.
24 July 2001:
New page on Merlene's Jamaican Honours
The Merlene Ottey
Website now features a page dedicated to the honours Merlene have been given by
Jamaica and by people in the country. This new page also brings you photos of
Merlene Ottey from the 2000 Jamaican Trials in Kingston. You can find it here.
10 July 2001:
Release of Fanclub Newsletter 27
The release of newsletter
27 brought the sad news that Merlene Ottey will not run at the Golden League
Meeting in Oslo on Friday 13 July. Recovering from injury she does not yet feel
fully prepared to run fast at competitions and will therefore wait until August
before racing at the Grand Prix circuit.
25 June 2001:
Merlene Ottey will open season in July
Today it was announced
by Merlene's manager Daniel Zimmermann that Merlene Ottey will not be running in
Luzern on Wednesday or at the Golden League Meeting in Paris at 6 July. At the
earliest Merlene will kick off her 20th season on the European Grand Prix
circuit on 13 July at the Golden League Meeting in Oslo (Norway). Merlene Ottey
has overcome her problems with the heel injury but she wants to be fully
prepared before she starts her season.
11 June 2001:
New location for the Merlene Ottey Tribute website
From today the Merlene
Ottey Tribute will be moving location to this new web address:
http://www.merlene.subnet.dk
As website and
fanclub administrator I excuse for the problems that you have experienced with
the website in the last four months.
Jakob Nielsen
8 June 2001:
Merlene postpones season opening
Due to some minor injury
problems Merlene Ottey has decided to postpone her season debut on the European
circuit. Therefore she will not run at the small meet in Poznan (Poland) on 8
June or at the Grand Prix in Helsinki (Finland) on 14 June as published earlier
on this web site.
22 May 2001:
Release of Fanclub Newsletter 26
The newsletter
features the latest updates on Merlene Ottey as well as news on her newly
established firm.
10 May 2001:
Happy birthday to Merlene
Today Merlene can
celebrate her 41st birthday, which she will do with some of her close friends in
Ljubliana. The last year has been one of stress, relief and great experiences.
In a month's time she will start her 22nd season on the European Grand Prix
circuit. That is truly unique!
A big cheer
for the greatest female athlete of all time and
best wishes for the 2001 season from the Merlene Ottey Fanclub
5 May 2001:
Merlene to open outdoor season in Poland
It has been confirmed by
Merlene's manager Daniel Zimmermann that Merlene will open her 2001 outdoor
season at a small athletics meeting in the Polish town of Poznan on 8 June. A
little less than a week after that she will go to Helsinki to run in the Grand
Prix Meeting on 14 June. At the moment Merlene is training at her base in
Ljubliana, Slovenia.
April 2001:
Training in Spain and Slovenia
During this month Merlene has spend her time training - first a couple of
weeks in Spain but she has now returned to her base in Ljubliana in Slovenia.
She has fully recovered from the injury that she got back in March.
30 March 2001:
Merlene withdraws from South African meeting
After the problems she
experienced at the Engen Grand Prix II Meeting in Pretoria a week ago Merlene
Ottey decided to withdraw from the athletics meeting in Stellenbosch, South
Africa.
23 March 2001:
Merlene finished second in Pretoria
At the Engen Grand Prix
II Meeting in Pretoria Merlene Ottey was surprisely beaten by Russia's Marina
Kislova. After the race Ottey went to the see a doctor. "It appears I
have not fully recovered from the hamstring injury I suffered in Madrid two
weeks ago. At 60 metres I felt a twinge in my hamstring. I decided not to
abandon the race but solider on to the finish. I am glad I have not pulled a
muscle. Lets see how I feel in a day or two before I decide whether I will
compete next Friday", said Ottey.
100 metre result (wind: 0.0):
1. Marina Kislova (RUS) 11.29 sec.
2. Merlene Ottey (JAM) 11.31 sec.
3. Dikeledi Moropane (RSA) 11.43 sec.
22 March 2001:
Newsletter 24 - declaration of the fanclub competition winner
The 24th
newsletter in fanclub history is sent out to the 338 fanclub members. In the
fanclub competition that has been running throughout the 2001 indoor season and
where the fanclub members were supposed to guess Merlene’s best 60 metres
time, the right guess was the 7.12 sec. that Merlene ran in Madrid on 14th
March. Only member no. 28 guessed right and will receive a signed pair of
Merlene’s running spikes.
19 March 2001:
End of the indoor season
The 2001 indoor season
has ended and Merlene finished top of the indoor 100 metre list (11.21 sec.) and
9th on the 60 metres list (7.12 sec.), which is topped by Natalia Safronnikova
(BLR) and Petya Pendareva (BUL) – both ran 7.04 sec. Sadly Merlene suffered a
slight injury at the end of February and was therefore not able to participate
and improve herself at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon from 9th to 11th
March.
14 March 2001:
Merlene runs seasons best in Madrid
Merlene proved that her
injury was no serious problem as she won the 60 metre race at the IAAF Permit
Meeting in Madrid (Memorial José Ma Cagigal) ahead of Olympic relay champion
Sevatheda Fynes (BAH). This means that Merlene during the 2001 indoor season has
beaten some of the best competing sprinters (Fynes, Gaines, Safronnikova and
World Champion Sturrup). Merlene's winning time makes her the 9th fastest female
sprinter this season.
Race result:
1. Merlene Ottey 7.12 sec. (7.22 sec. in heat)
2. Sevatheda Fynes 7.15 sec.
3. Muriel Hurtis 7.32 sec.
9-11 March
2001: World Indoor Championships
Start of the World Indoor Championships without an injured Merlene Ottey.
Result of the women's 60 metre final:
1. Chandra Sturrup (BAH) 7.05 sec.
2. Angela Williams (USA) 7.09 sec.
3. Chryste Gaines (USA) 7.12 sec.
4. Sevatheda Fynes (BAH) 7.15 sec.
5. Mercy Nku (NIG) 7.15 sec.
6. Petya Pendareva (BUL) 7.16 sec.
7. Li Xuemei (CHN) 7.20 sec.
8. Endurance Ojokolo (NIG) 7.23 sec.
23 February
2001: Merlene injured
Merlene Ottey was not able to compete at the Flanders Indoor meet in Ghent
(Belgium) as she suffered a heel injury during her warm-up. The injury is not
serious and she may still be able to compete at the World Indoor Championships
in Lisbon (Portugal) from 9-11 March. In Merlene's absence the 60 metre race was
won by Petya Pendareva in 7.12 sec. More on the Energizer
Euroseries.
12 February
2001: Two wins for Merlene in Tampere
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